Michelle James pictured her one-night stay at Many Glacier Campground as a dream. She would sleep under the stars and wake up as the sun rose above picturesque mountain peaks.

Instead, James woke the morning of June 29 to find the campground on the east side of Glacier National Park swamped with the aftermath of a torrential downpour that dumped more than 4 inches of rain on Many Glacier Valley.  

“There was one person I saw that was also in an RV that was impacted. The water came up to his RV door,” said James. “I woke up several times throughout the night to the sounds of the winds ripping through.” 

James and her husband left for West Glacier around 10 a.m., after learning from a park ranger that Many Glacier Campground may close. By 2:30 p.m., the National Park Service was advising all visitors in Many Glacier to evacuate as floodwaters threatened the singular road in and out of the valley. 

Some of the evacuees made their way to Two Sisters Cafe outside of Babb, where co-owner John Cunningham said he spent most of the afternoon calling around to help customers find last-minute lodging. With summertime in full swing and the few nearby hotels already near capacity, he said many of the families he helped wound up driving to Canada to find a dry place to sleep. 

About 8 inches of standing water accumulated outside Cunningham’s own back door, and he kept a pump running to keep the water from reaching the interior of the cafe. 

“At one point, all we were doing was keeping up,” he said. 

Upstream, dam operators were also doing their best to keep pace with the influx of water. Operators at Lake Sherburne Dam on Tuesday were releasing as much water as they could to keep Lake Sherburne from rising above the spillway.  

Average outflows from the dam, which sits about 2 miles west of the Many Glacier entrance, averaged more than 1,300 cubic feet per second on Monday, June 29, up from about 225 cubic feet per second the week prior. 

“With nearly 5 inches of precipitation falling across the watershed, inflows into the reservoir have increased significantly ... While it is an impressive amount of water moving through the system, operators are currently able to match reservoir outflows with incoming inflows, helping maintain stable conditions,” reads a June 30 social media post from the Milk River Project, which includes the Lake Sherburne Dam. 

As of Tuesday, June 30, the entirety of Many Glacier remained closed to the public. All lodging reservations in the Many Glacier area for June 29 and 30 were canceled and refunded, according to a June 29 statement from Xanterra, the concessioner that operates both hotels in Many Glacier. 

While the park has not identified a timeline to reopen the area, Xanterra noted that the cancellations affect “Many Glacier Hotel and Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and Cabins only for tonight (June 29) and tomorrow night (June 30) as well given the rain forecast.”

Glacier Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road between Avalanche and Rising Sun remained closed Tuesday due to heavy rain and the risk of debris falling onto the scenic highway. 

Area rivers approached flood stage Tuesday as the rain moved out of the region. The Flathead River at Columbia Falls crested at 12.51 feet at noon but was expected to drop to 7 feet by Saturday, July 4.   

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 406-758-4433 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.